Signs, omens and some such

Something just touched my heart very deeply; I made a huge connection. I’m reading through Rev. Dangler’s ADF Dedicant Path Through the Wheel of the Year, and in the opening paragraphs of the introduction, he makes a statement that is an arrow through my heart.

He writes: ‘We hope to show all our Dedicants not only how to write a book report, but also how to walk the Path that is in their heart.’ WOW.

To understand the significance of this, I want to recount a portion of a shamanic journey that I took some years ago, a classic dismemberment journey wherein the Walker (that’s me) is torn apart and reassembled by the animal who chooses them. Very briefly, the journey involved a wolf pack that literally ripped me to shreds and ground my bones to powder, until there was nothing left, and one of the wolves – the alpha – handed my heart back to me beating, intact and whole, after he regurgitated it. (My journey focus was ‘how do I deepen my path?’)

My power animal, who was keeping up a running narrative throughout the whole process, by the way, told me that ‘this is all I needed’ to follow this path. My heart. As I would say in Gaelic, Sin e.

I have spent much time now in reading and reflection, and made many subsequent journies since this one, and I have come to understand deeply what he meant by this. And yet again, here it is, echoed in the words of Rev. Dangler.

It is significant that it was my HEART and not my MIND that was given back. It is the heart – that part of us that experiences compassion, empathy and love – also fortitude – that I need for this path. Of course, it was also significant that the heart was whole, healthy and beating, as well.

In the words of one of my Teachers, ‘in the centre of every human being is the heart – it is the seat of the sacred self. This is where we ultimately go to find answers and to make choices in our lives. Your Sacred Self is your ultimate authority. This place must always be respected and remembered.’